Legal advisory and information services

Tender description

The provision of wrap around consultancy to support SMEs participating in the Humber and York and North Yorkshire ERDF Funded SparkFund programme. We are seeking responses to this tender which provide costs for short term interventions with SparkFund Beneficiary SMEs in units of whole days on a pro-rata basis. Services will be called-off in whole or part days, specifically quarter and half days, and will relate to specific needs of businesses as defined within the mini-competitions. Innovation strategy: (a) strategic investment for innovation; (b) intellectual property audits, searches and application support; (c) taking innovation to market (strategic marketing). Manufacturing, operations and supply chains: (a) supply chain and quality management; (b) low carbon and environmental solutions; (c) process intensification; (d) design and development. Due diligence — financial: (a) financial health checks; (b) financial modelling and technical appraisal; (c) financial assessment relating to eligibility for grant support. Due diligence — legal: (a) risk assessment; (b) obligation assessment; (c) documentation compliance. Due diligence — commercial: (a) detailed technical financial appraisals of proposed SparkFund grant applications; (b) detailed financial risk assessments of proposed SparkFund grant applications; (c) market place commercial assessments of proposed SparkFund projects as a comparison within specific business activities. Verification and measurement — Grants for R&D low carbon: (a) working with grant applicants and the SparkFund team to assess the rigor of GHG/Co2 reduction measurement approaches; (b) preparation of formal benchmarking and measurement methodology proposal for the managing authority; (c) benchmarking of GHG/Co2 at the inception of awarded grants; (d) verification of impact measures and validation of data relating to ERDF outputs.